Tuesday, 02 November 2010

There Are Rules...

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for something completely different - what about your darkroom? no progress worth while reporting? or is it finished, and only i did not notice?
(just for the record, no, i do not want to buy another RF, i have got already 5)

Very good. I particularly like the computer speech stutter rendering one word into "range-finder". But aren't those rules onerous? Being a contrarian by nature, I tempted to buy a Leica M5 (body only) to use for pinhole photographs onto something other than Tri-X. Tempted, but not rich enough to do the deed.

There are implicit rules and that is true. It is not that fun when you face these people.

Last year, I went to a shop to get my large format lens CLA and one of the customers was really angry at me. I said really angry. "Why you use that lens on your Leica?" That is before M9 and my M8 is only two digital rangefinder one can use. I guess it would be alright if I use the lowly Epson RD1 with non-Leica lens, but definitely NOT M8. He really tried to lecture me on why I should not use CV lens on my Leica.

I still do not get it today why he thought that he can lecture me. Luckily I have sold my M8 now (essentially getting a Hasselblad 203fe) and hence lessons on the Leica front would not come again. I think it is ok to use my lowly Bessa R3&R4 with my vintage Leica lens now.

Well, that is not just Leica people has strong opinion. I faced a forum guy questioned me and said why one should/could not use C lens on 203fe ... I took 110 rolls this summer and I do not see any problem, including using focal plan shutter.

Neurotic!!
On a side note, what's the opinion here about why M4/3 Panasonics don't have in-body stabilization? Just so they limit the use of third party lenses? The GH2 looks awesome, but this is kind of a deal breaker.
Too many great shots lost to minimal vibration with my GF1.

Yeah, me too. (Another sigh.) Maybe it's my age, or just me, but this is a feature I really get a lot out of. The other night I tried again and again to handhold a shot of the house with the Halloween decorations, and each time there was just a little motion blur. I was at about 1/20th. I just couldn't do it. Kept trying...but just couldn't do it. So I could either jack the ISO to where the camera isn't comfortable, or suffer just a bit of motion blur. Or go get the tripod out of the closet.

I said before I bought the GF1 that I'd never buy another camera without IS, and I should have stuck to that.

Mike, stabilization is great even if you have an excellent grip. I just find myself trying (and failing) to get images I remember I could with a stabilized body. For example, small apertures and long lenses in daylight for landscape DOF, that was a scenario where stabilization took a lot of stress off. You knew if you wanted a big print the IS would take care of the usual micro vibrations, you just knew you were OK, not anymore. I think I'll second your motion of not buying another camera without in body IS.
It's saddening, because the high ISO image quality seems to be improving fastly for most brands, so I believe Micro Four Thirds will make more sense than ever, size is a definite plus and you get accurate Av mettering with manual lenses. I was dreaming of using the gh2 with the 20/1.7, but this certainly is a big issue.

My solution is to not keep the tripod /in/ a closet to begin with. Sure, it probably bothers my wife a bit, but having it sitting around the house makes for easy access and zero excuses for not using it!

So so true!! I´m sure most these rules/myths are basic insecurity on the photographers part. There has been nothing more liberating in my photography than not giving a SH*T and shedding all worries on what may be right or wrong in certain photography circles/forums/friends/schools. Funny enough I´m sure your "A year with a Leica" should provide a sufficient emancipating experience to be able to realise all cameras are just tools.
Paul

"Maybe it's my age, or just me, but this is a feature I really get a lot out of. The other night I tried again and again to handhold a shot of the house with the Halloween decorations, and each time there was just a little motion blur. I was at about 1/20th."

Somewhere on the internet is a forum discussion exactly like this. Heck, it was probably used as the script. - Craig Lee

Oh no, there are lots. Pay a visit to RFF (which is quite a nice place really) and you'll find a few on any day of the week.

Mike, thanks this made me laugh - and I'm one who missed the first 10 rff postings...

I've only just acquired a Leica, as a digital foil to my Ikon, and intend using my 'stepping stone' ZM, cheap CV and old M-Rokkor lenses on it:) None will be 'upgraded'. I think the Leica for a year wuold help to convince us that all cameras are just tools - certainly I am as able to take bad pictures with every camera I've ever used.

Alas, when I was 16 and I had a Detrola 400 rangefinder, I lusted after the pre-Spotmatic Pentax SLRs in the camera store at the mall. Now, ten Pentax SLRs later I'm lusting after that Fuji X100 and wishing I still had the old Detrola. Funny, I've never lusted after a Leica.

Pretty funny, and a bit of truth now and then. But I am just waiting for a digital equivalent of my travel camera, a CL. Although I would love to have an M9, for my uses right now I cannot justify the expense even though the results from my Leica Ms were so superior to my Nikons. The differences were subtle and my customers don't reward subtle.
And for some odd reasons (not mainstream), reflex viewing suits what I am doing right now. And to my eye the viewfinder of my D700 really does work quite nicely. I did have to give up on the half-frame cameras. Just a thousand dollars wasted there.

Black chrome is not acceptable. It is an inferior finish that but inadequately conceals the ugly gray-colored zinc alloy hiding underneath.
Well-born rangefinders use black paint, with the concomitant appearance of a noble, brass patina with age.

I was at about 1/20th. I just couldn't do it. Kept trying...but just couldn't do it....I said before I bought the GF1 that I'd never buy another camera without IS, and I should have stuck to that.

Embrace the jitter (eg some of Antonin Kratochvil's recent work) or embrace the mono/tri pod.

I have the G1 and the 14-45 kit lens and I do like the in-lens stabilization. If Olympus were to come out with a competitive competitor to the G-series with in-body stabilization I would certainly consider it, but it is not on the top of my list.